


One Of My Finest Friends

by ArcheaMajuar



Category: MASH (TV)
Genre: Conversations, M/M, Nostalgia, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-06-02 07:51:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19437112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArcheaMajuar/pseuds/ArcheaMajuar
Summary: “What have you heard about how BJ got here?”“Not much. Truth be told, it hasn’t seem worthy of my attention yet,” Charles said, but under Pierce’s ironic gaze he indifferently added: “But, please, continue.”The following look in Pierce’s eyes remained quite sceptical, but as soon as he realized Charles was waiting for him to speak again, he decided to elaborate.





	One Of My Finest Friends

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MajorWinchesterFan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MajorWinchesterFan/gifts).
  * A translation of [One of my finest friends](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12553316) by [ArcheaMajuar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArcheaMajuar/pseuds/ArcheaMajuar). 



> English is not my mother tongue as I'm from the Czech Republic. There are mistakes in the story, I know, but I just don't have anyone around to give me their feedback on the fic, grammar and so on (but if you'd like to let me know about the mistakes, please, do so in the comments or just send me an email (you'll find it on my profile page), it'd be much appreciated)
> 
> I'm really sorry for the errors, but I hope you'll enjoy this work anyway :)
> 
> The title comes from an episode. It was the one called Tell It To The Marines where... Well, Hawk is about to be arrested (more or less), and Charles is enraged by it, shouting: "How dare you come lumbering into my camp and shanghai one of my finest fr..." and to a perceptive spectator it must be clear that Charles intended to say "finest friends," however, as soon as he realized Hawk's looking at him, he trailed off, finishing the sentence with "finest surgeons." When I noticed it for the very first time, I was utterly moved, seeing Charles so protective of Hawkeye, and so... fond of him...  
> Yeah, in the end, Charles let Hawkeye to be sort of arrested, but despite that, I love the scene.

Most of days in the camp, they were willing to do almost anything to avoid boredom. To avoid that utterly boring boredom which sometimes forced them to behave in very obscure ways and to do very obscure things that they’d have never done under different circumstances. 

Once upon a time they simply took all of the benches out of the mess and placed them outsider, which had been preceded by a couple of well-aimed calls that provided the whole staff with genuine game. It was almost unbelievable they really managed to do it, but as soon as Klinger polished his handling skills and orchestrated the whole process, it all went smoothly, so only after a week, the tables were bending under the tons of top-notch food and the camp smelled deliciously for once.

The unusually pleasant weather contributed to the fact that there were two deck chairs in front of the Swamp while one of them was occupied by a person who wanted to enjoy a bit of the sun, but who also preferred to remain aside from the rest of the noise producing plebeians, discussing baseball and other mundane topics.

“Charles?”

As he heard his name being said not so far away from him, it could’ve meant only one thing – he had to say goodbye to his solitude, because the second deck chair happened to be under the attack of cheerfully looking Pierce. His eyes were bright and shining as well as his smile, and despite the fact Charles wasn’t exactly euphoric about Pierce disturbing his peace, he raised the corners of his lips in an attempt of a smile. He couldn’t help it as he always experienced a hint of happiness spreading through his veins whenever Pierce seemed lucid and content, given that Pierce too often balanced on the verge of insanity.

“My pride is wounded and my heart bleeding, but the meal was delicious, Pierce,” Charles managed to say something nice before Pierce would utter some complete nonsense and their conversation would turn into an argument. However, Charles had to admit that quarrels with Pierce had never been boring as the both of them were still capable of coming up with brand new insults they would throw in each other faces.

“That’s a serious compliment, being said by such an epicurean like you, Charles, much appreciated,” said Pierce half-seriously, half-jokingly, leaving Charles to guess which mood was dominating, but after a second Pierce’s grin transformed into a proper smile. To Charles it seemed that even his expression softened when he looked at the camp’s staff, sitting around tables, chitchatting and… Charles grimaced painfully at the sight and more importantly the sound of a guitar that was utterly out-of-tune and handled by a good-for-nothing, abusing the instrument to play a rather hideous song.

“You are missing Hunnicatt, aren’t you?” he inquired, being maybe too nosy, but he wasn’t ashamed at all. Every time the two of them were separated, they were looking like stray puppies, which was kind of funny and cute at once.

Charles didn’t expect Pierce to answer right away, so he gave him some time, turning around and reaching for a bottle of wine. At first, he intended to drink the whole liquid happiness by himself, however, he altered his mind as Pierce approached him obviously because he simply wanted to, moreover he behaved quite tolerable in these days…

Well, in the end, Charles laid two glasses on the table and while his heart was aching at the necessity of pouring so delicate beverage into something so cheap and used, he felt quite good about sharing with the other man. He was sure Pierce wasn’t able to value the quality of the wine in the slightest, though he didn’t doubt Pierce would appreciate the gesture.

“I didn’t know that of all personal traits, you possess also generosity, Charles,” Pierce remarked and curiously sniffed at the wine before tasting it. It was good. It was great, truth be told, thought Pierce and savoured the drink, taking little sips and also taking his time to formulate the answer as he kept pondering whether he should be honest with Charles, or not.

Hawkeye peeked at the other man who looked as comfortable as a man of his class may be in this hellhole, though his expression mirrored a bit of boredom. Could it be possible he was intrigued by some nostalgia talks?

“Missing isn’t the right word, actually,” he said under his breath and put the glass on the table.

“I beg your pardon?” slipped out of Charles’s mouth. He heard him, of course, but Charles was utterly baffled by that trace of honesty in Pierce’s voice, not speaking of the fact that Pierce showed interest in talking about such topic. It pleased Charles immensely, because as Pierce had already stressed numerous times, he considered Charles a friend, and Major… sometimes… really wanted to behave like one.

“What have you heard about how BJ got here?”

“Not much. Truth be told, it hasn’t seem worthy of my attention yet,” Charles said, but under Pierce’s ironic gaze he indifferently added: “But, please, continue.”

The following look in Pierce’s eyes remained quite sceptical, but as soon as he realized Charles was waiting for him to speak again, he decided to elaborate.

“He superseded John McIntyre, also known as Trapper. A great guy… Frank was utterly helpless with us up against him, and because we usually had even Henry on our side, Frank was going nuts,” were Pierce’s blue depths full of nostalgia as he was staring into the distance. “I would’ve never pulled through without Trap.”

That was something Charles could understand quite easily as he knew how much Pierce tended to grow attached to people close to him. He needed some company, attention, intimacy…

“What happened?”

Captain shuddered at his words as if he had forgotten he wasn’t alone. Musing on his long lost friend, on their common endeavours regarding pulling pranks on Frank, fighting his obsession with stupid regulations, fighting his narrow-mindedness… Yeah, he missed Trapper a lot.

“He got his orders,” Pierce continued, yet his voice somehow laboured. “He had to immediately board a plane to the States, but… but at that time, I was on leave in Tokio. Radar and Trap tried their best to reach me without any success. Upon my arrival back to the camp, I still wasn’t over Henry’s death and I’ve already lost another friend. I didn’t want to let Trapper go without a proper goodbye, so I took all my chances, grabbed a jeep and Radar and we dashed towards Kimpo. I needed to see him for the last time…”

Suddenly, their eyes were locked. Overwhelmed by the feeling of sadness, Pierce was looking at Charles’ whose expression only stirred up his emotions. He might’ve appreciated indifference that would be something well-known and sort of comforting, though the pair of blue eyes was gleaming with sorrow, understanding, and unordinary gentleness, which once again reminded Pierce how much Charles differed from Frank and how grateful he was for Charles being there.

“You didn’t make it,” finished Charles Pierce’s sentence, judging from Pierce’s somber silence that there was no happy end to his bold adventure.

“I missed him by ten minutes,” he gritted though his teeth as a wave of anger washed over him at the bitter memory. “Bloody ten minutes!”

Upon noticing such exasperation in Pierce’s tone, Charles contemplated whether he should say something, or let the captain talk…

“That’s why I’m always anxious whenever BJ isn’t around. I’m afraid of getting an order to depart. I would’ve never forgiven myself had I put him through the same crap,” answered Pierce finally the question whether he missed Hunnicatt.

“I understand,” Charles said and he really meant it. He had heard the pain in Pierce’s voice; he could fathom how he must’ve felt. Though, he wouldn’t protest if their conversation ended here, but on the other hand, it was refreshing and kind of nice to see another side of Pierce, the serious, sensible one.

“At least, Trapper was lucky enough to get home in one piece. Well, almost,” uttered Pierce after a while, spent by sipping on the wine. He kept the glass in his hand this time, staring into it like he was about to declare a prophecy, but his thoughts were apparently stuck in the past.

It wasn’t clear to Hawkeye where this sudden urge to tell Charles everything came from, but out of the blue he even began thinking what the communication between Charles and Henry would br like, dismissing the ridiculous thought immediately as the idea of them, forced to deal with each other, seemed absolutely bizarre.

“Almost?” inquired Charles, obviously still interested in the topic.

“He’d developed ulcers,” the corners of Pierce’s lips twitched a little as he remembered how happy Trap was about it because it could’ve meant he was going home in an instance. He then gave an unexpected chuckle: “It’d be outstanding to have Trap back here, but to be honest; I’d rather see your expression during the very first encounter with such special species like Frank Burns.”

As Charles witnessed Pierce’s cheerfulness, spreading from his bright smile also to his blue eyes, he allowed himself to smile as well. Somehow unnerving was the strange warmth in his chest, yet he paid no attention to it and savoured the way Pierce was looking at him, sincere and trusting.

“We’ve done awful stuff to him and I do not regret any of it,” his eyes sparkled with mischief.

“You’ve lost yourself a remarkable source of entertainment, I reckon. Quite primitive one, though.”

Pierce, however, made like he didn’t heard the remark, his eyes distant once again as he was gazing into an empty space, so Charles got a bit startled when Pierce stood up and put the glass on the table.

“Would you join me for a little walk?”

Well, Charles wasn’t any eager to abandon his rather comfortable chair, but he felt that Pierce yearned to tell him something else, something more… private. Therefore he nodded, got up and side by side, they paced through the camp. Charles let Pierce lead the way and occupied himself with the ideas on what was on Pierce’s mind. He doubted slightly whether it was really necessary to leave the camp, but as soon as they reached a place from where the rest of the staff wasn’t able to hear them, Pierce slowed down and finally halted, and turned quite nervously to Charles, who… who was looking at him with an unquestionable curiosity without sporting any kind on annoyance. He was simply waiting for him to say what he needed. He was interested in him…

“I care about you,” revealed Hawkeye, shocking even himself with his unscrupulousness.

Charles hesitated to believe his own ears as he wasn’t used to be around people that would be so open about liking him, moreover that would perceive him as their friend, but… but Pierce’s expression was genuine. However, appropriate answer seemed to be out of reach and Charles didn’t have any notion how to proceed, so he adhered to what he knew very well – arrogance.

“Pierce, have you dragged me here just to tell me this?”

Hawkeye shook his head, eyes suddenly bewildered as if he was afraid Charles would lose patience with him, so he hurried up with the explanation.

“You’re probably too haughty with all your high self-esteem to ever consider that despite you pompous and snobbish attitude, we all are grateful you’re here,” Pierce wrapped up the substantial information into a bunch of insults. “Because… Firstly, Frank Burns was utterly failing at being a decent surgeon.”

“And secondly?” Charles encouraged Pierce after the captain fell silent.

“And secondly…” Pierce literally forced himself to look right into Charles’ eyes while he kept wondering where his boldness and honesty was coming from… It had been some time since he had started thinking about revealing this to Charles, but he wasn’t able to find the appropriate moment, he feared Charles’ reaction, he feared that Major Ego would laugh him off, but now… Now or never. “Unlike you, Frank Burns was failing at being a decent human being.”

It would do if Charles’ reaction was half-hearted, if he just nodded, but Pierce would’ve never imagined Charles to be moved. It wasn’t his goal as he simply wanted to say how he felt, though a pleasant warmth ignited in his chest, fuelled by Charles’ almost glossy eyes and touchingly insecure smile.

Moreover, he experienced another jolt of surprise as he realized there was a growing urge which he tried to refrain from, but as it was stronger than him, soon enough he closed the distance between them, put his hands around the other man whom soon was hugging him with the same kind of desperation.

Upon the beginning of their conversation, he had no idea where it would lead, but he was damn glad he decided to sit next to Charles. Otherwise he would miss such a moment of understanding and he wouldn’t experience his quickened heartbeat as a reaction to Charles’ gentle fingers, stroking his hear…

**Author's Note:**

> About translating my other works with this pairing... Well, I've already translated three of my stories with Hawkeye and Charles, and those were my best ones. Earthquake is a bit longer with some slow burn and plot, Casual Party is just a sweet short work with two drunken and cuddly surgeons, while this one is nostalgic and emotional, so I guess, I've covered it all :D However, I'll probably do one more translation (sometime in the future), but that'd be it as the rest of my stories aren't really that good to be worthy of my further attention...


End file.
